Song of the Covenant
by Lady Razor
Summary: For every choice you make, a different Universe forms as a result of the other choice. This is where Athena Team exists. Because of the choices and effort put into the SPARTAN program, another program was born in a different Universe: the DEMIGODs, mutated human assassins dedicated to war...and Athena has been tossed into the greatest one they've seen yet. [Fully summary inside]
1. Chapter I - The Red Sea

_[Full summary: For every choice you make, a Universe is formed from the other choice. This is where ATHENA Team exists. Because of the choices and effort put into the SPARTAN program, another program was born in a different Universe; the DEMIGODs, mutated assassins who only know war since their birth and Athena is tossed into the greatest one they've seen yet. From a Universe where bullets are laughed at and planets are manmade, will Athena be able to adjust to this "backwards" Universe, learn to work with their alternate selves called NOBLE Team, and assist them in stopping the Human-Covenant War before stopping their own? Or will it all turn to hell and Athena destroyed along with the rest of Humanity?]_

* * *

**_Planet Lyndyn, Pauper Nebula, Jyn Sector_**

**_March 21st 2552, 2130 hours_**

**_Athena Team_**

**_Current status: ACTIVE_**

Lyndyn was not the planet to be on, especially during the nighttime cycles where the small moons did little to keep the blazing sun down and more so magnified the heat. It was a manmade desert planet and whoever decided a dome-planet would thrive very neatly near a large dwarf star was obviously high on something. The population was in the low thousands and the sweltering star nearly made the Order ignore the planet entirely. That was until the leader of the entire dome-planet project had stated there was something hidden on it. Something that could benefit the human population in the future. Didn't change the fact that Lyndyn was utter hell though; the entire place was mostly desert and where there were water sources, it was mostly polluted thanks to the people who had long since stopped taking care of the planet and reverted back to the not-so-Golden ways of Earth's fabulous methods in using materials. It had light defence; the Order had placed only two outposts throughout the entire mega dome-planet. Needless to say, the Order still doesn't care. That was until their alien enemy, the Song of Songs: creatures hellbent on creating the Book of Revelations, began invading. The planet wasn't one of the firsts to be attacked but it had been attacked nonetheless and when the War of Songs started, it got turned to top priority on the list, turning it into a race to see who could dig up the hidden artefact first.

Much less to say, Athena Team wasn't exactly thrilled to be put onto the Devil's planet.

* * *

"Athena-Four, report in," the blue and black thinly armoured soldier murmured through the comms. link as he stared down at the battlefield below. It's an aftermath, littered with bodies from both armies, what they were fighting for...well, he can't tell. There were blown rigs and outposts on the outermost areas and it seemed like both sides had suffered great casualties; it was probably just some more land lost to the Song. What was the point though? What did the Song expect to gain from all the land? The planets simply self-destructed upon themselves whenever they're captured taking along enemies and natives alike.

"Athena-One, this is Athena-Four; sir, I don't know what I'm looking for in all honesty," a baritone voice whispered in response followed by the sound of a grunt and in the distance, Athena-One could see a plume of dust rising up as a pile of bodies fell. "But I do know that some of these Hoarders aren't dead...I've never seen them do this before." Said creatures are similar to the offspring of a praying-mantis and hornets, large and walked on four legs with four wings and a stinger as their weapon, the main defence of the Song army. They were always active, always buzzing around, and always angry, killing in the name of Revelations. But this...even if they were half-dead, this was strange behaviour. As Athena-Four cautiously walked by piles and piles of dead Hoarders and other creatures, occasionally killing a living one, he noticed that the farther he went into the enemy camp, the piles of Hoarders get bigger although they didn't look like ones that had died during battle...

It was more as if they were eaten or they ran into a Grinder. Their flesh mutilated beyond recognition, wings torn and frayed, stingers missing with a clear fluid oozing out. And the smell, oh _God_, even through the armoured hood and faceplate mask, Athena-Four couldn't help but gag, trying his best not to throw up what was left of his stomach.

"Sir, you...augh, you might wanna see this," he managed to choke out before clamping his mouth shut to avoid tasting the air. _Oh, my god... _He faintly heard Athena-One ordering the rest of Athena Team to report to his position and then order him to stay in the general position he was currently at. Automatically, Athena-Four replied, "Yes, sir." with the rest of the team even though he wasn't necessarily listening, something else had caught his attention again. A faint humming sound as if someone was singing only to be interrupted by the occasional buzzing sound or high-pitched screech of a Hoarder that faded into the distant mountains and ridges; curious, Athena-Four followed the singing, screaming, and overall noise, rounding a crevice to find entire platoons of the alien army assembling in front of the face of the mountain.

What was supposed to be rock and marble was instead a shimmering layer of bright red water, nearly invisible along the face, surrounded by a frame of bedrock that seemed to hold it in place and upright. It was like someone picked up an old-fashioned swimming pool and jutted it from its landscape position.

Athena-Four watched in amazement and confusion as a platoon of Hoarders flew into the strange water, disappearing with a splash that didn't land on the dusty ground, interrupting the song. It was then that he realised the screaming wasn't a Hoarder but coming from the water as if in pain or angry that the song was interrupted; almost immediately, the platoon was spat back out, looking similar to the bodies of the mutilated Hoarders Athena-Four saw earlier. Backing away slowly, Athena-Four returned quietly to his previous position, spotting the rest of Athena heading his way. Athena-One stepped forward, examining the surrounding area before shaking his head slowly as he remarked, "I didn't want to see this...it's-" He seemed at a loss of words but luckily Athena-Two finished it for him, "-disgusting. I've never seen anything like it before." The others of Athena nodded in agreement trying hard not to gag at the foul air.

"I may have found the explanation though, sir," Athena-Four began quietly. "...thought I had heard a survivour, I dunno, singing or something," he paused and looked over in the direction of the strange device, "I think the Song found the artefact we're looking for." Athena Team stared in the direction Athena-Four had looked at before Athena-One nodded and ordered, "Lead the way then, Four." Frowning behind his faceplate, Athena-Four turned around and silently trekked back over to the singing water, relieved and disgusted that it was calm but had killed the rest of the Song garrison that was there, their torn up bodies laying around as if they were blood sacrifices. Stepping out of the safety of the cliff face, Athena-Four walked forward slowly, the singing getting louder the closer he got to the water before he announced the all clear. Following suit, Athena walked towards the strange red water, looking up at it curiously. Closer, it was monstrous, couldn't have been less than several thousand feet, and when they inched closer, the singing was louder, more piercing, but not painful. It wasn't until they all subconsciously got as close as they could get without touching it did they realise that it was actually talking.

_You have finally arrived. You have finally arrived. You found me. It was you who is supposed to go through me. Through the remnants of the Red Sea into the Other world. You have finally arrived..._

It kept repeating itself, chanting it in a mantra.

Athena-One inched a few more feet closer and reached towards the red water when a red tendril shot out and hoisted him into the air. The entire team yelled in surprised as they readied their weapons to rescue their leader when five more tendrils appeared from the red water and grabbed them as well.

Grunting, yelling, and cursing, Athena tried to claw at the tendrils, tried to activate their blades, tried to simply escape but to no avail.

_Halt this nonsense! _The red water roared, effectively stopping Athena's attempts. _It is this time that you must accept your fate, little mutated humans. Fate is everywhere and she is my mistress, I follow her orders to the letter and you must do the same. I have waited many a millennium for this tiny group's arrival, I cannot keep my Gates closed on the creatures for long. Through the Remnants of the Red Sea, you will be tossed through the broken seams of your Universe into another and in the Other Universe you will find the salvation of your people. Go now and find yourselves of the Other Universe under the name Noble. Follow Fate and she will be kind to you in return. _

The tendrils tossed them into the red water without waiting for a single noise of protest, a gate opening within, tossing them into a vortex where they tumbled over head and heel, blacking out almost instantly.

* * *

**_UNSC Halycon-frigate Pillar of Autumn_**

**_August 31st, 2552, 2340 hours_**

**_Noble Team_  
**

**_Current status: ACTIVE_ **

Isaiah-B312 stared quietly at the drifting Longswords, contemplating the fast-paced events of Reach: the initial joining of Noble Team, the discovery of the Covenant, and each near-death experience all the Noble members had gone through. It was a miracle that anyone of them had survived the onslaught. Slowly, he thought back to the mission to infiltrate the Covenant corvette.

_'Let go!' Jorge demanded. He had explained the situation to Isaiah, said that someone had to fire it manually and chances were, they wouldn't survive; he tried to get the younger Spartan out of there, they needed him more. However, much to his disappointment, Isaiah had seen clear through Jorge's explanation and saw even more what he could do and shook his head furiously as he stated firmly, _

_'No, I can do it, Jorge. I'm faster so there's a chance; you need to get down there.' Jorge tried to protest, tried a last ditch attempt to shove the man off into space but Isaiah was faster and hooked a leg around Jorge's knees and tripped him, switching positions._

_'I can do it,' he said as he shoved the older Spartan out of the corvette before turning to the damaged bomb and said again to himself ever so softly, 'I can make it.' The truth was...he was terrified that he wouldn't. _

Turned out, he singed his entire arm off and fought through New Alexandria with a dead arm; he had finally gotten it replaced several days before Noble's infiltration of Sword Base. He stared down at the new artificial arm, flexing it; he still found it strange but he got used to it, it worked smoothly (perhaps a bit faster than he'd prefer) and Kat had taught him how to fix it up should something happen to it. Kat. She had survived luckily but (holy shit) it was a close call back when New Alexandria was starting to get glassed.

_'First glassing?' Kat looked at Isaiah who stayed silent and stared at the glassing beam in awe. Noble Two chuckled softly, 'Me too.' The elevator doors delayed slightly before letting them out and soon, the two were sprinting to catch up with the rest of Noble who was already heading for cover when a Phantom appeared; Isaiah had spotted it in his peripheral...luckily Carter as well since he yelled out in warning before sprinting back out, grabbing Kat and swinging her in a 180 degree circle just as the shot was fired, missing Carter by several inches. The rest of Noble acted quickly, pulling out their DMRs and whatever other long ranged weapon they had, firing at the Phantom as it flew off and back to the cruiser._

_That was too close. Again. _

Isaiah sighed as he turned away from the window, helmet tucked under his arm as he headed towards the hanger where the rest of Noble was probably at; they hadn't left the hanger ever since they escaped from Reach, Isaiah being the only exception to get some time by himself.

The _Pillar of Autumn _was a maze of a ship even though it was considered the smallest of its kind and Isaiah couldn't help but frown at the fact that he nearly lost himself on the ship multiple times if it weren't for the stupid signs on the floor guiding him in the right direction. After getting lost and getting frustrated, Isaiah finally entered the hanger which was getting cluttered with Marines and ODSTs outfitting themselves with a Warthog or Scorpion tank to drive into the next planetside battle. The Spartan-III spotted Noble still lounging around the same Pelican and began heading over while sealing his helmet, hearing the satisfying hiss and click of it locking in place.

Jorge noticed him first and waved, about to call a greeting when something cracked; from one's point-of-view if they were below it, it would look like the hull of the ship had a broken, crumbling circle when really, everyone saw that it was...everywhere. No matter where they looked it was always on something: that Scorpion tank over there, the floor, the ceiling, the Pelican, that ODST...

The crumbling circle split open and six red tendrils appeared, throwing down several strangely dressed humanoids harshly then disappearing, the crack sealing. All at once, those in the hanger that were armed held up their rifles, eyeing the strangers warily. Was this some ONI project? Covenant? Insurrectionists? Whoever they were, they didn't look the part but the UNSC never took any chances.

Then a familiar voice to Noble ordered hoarsely,

"Athena...report..."

* * *

_A/NL Hello there, I will make this short; thank you for taking the time to read this new story. To point it out now, this was previously Lady Xzephyr and is now owned by someone else. I am Lady Razor. Please take the time to read the file in order to understand._

_It should be noted that everything in the Athena Team's world will be explained throughout the story in order to keep a slight air of mystery about them and their Universe._

_I ask that you - if possible - to please leave a **helpful **review telling me whether or not this is worth continuing. Critique is also accepted as well as flames._

_Thank you again,_

_Lady Razor_


	2. Chapter II - New Beginnings

___[Full summary: For every choice you make, a Universe is formed from the other choice. This is where ATHENA Team exists. Because of the choices and effort put into the SPARTAN program, another program was born in a different Universe; the DEMIGODs, mutated assassins who only know war since their birth and Athena is tossed into the greatest one they've seen yet. From a Universe where bullets are laughed at and planets are manmade, will Athena be able to adjust to this "backwards" Universe, learn to work with their alternate selves called NOBLE Team, and assist them in stopping the Human-Covenant War before stopping their own? Or will it all turn to hell and Athena destroyed along with the rest of Humanity?]_

* * *

_**Athena Team**_

_**Unknown system**_

_**0030 hours**_

_**Status: UNKNOWN**_

"Athena..." Athena-One groaned as he lifted one of his men off his body, "...report." It felt like he had gotten stung all over by a hive of Hoards and then run over by an N-spire. He heard a chorus of numbers from his men but through the garbled mess, he counted out two through six plus an unfamiliar click; he had heard it before several times when he went against the Song army, it was a strange sound but could only mean one thing: projectile weapons.

The sound snapped Athena team out of the haze of pain that had clouded them and up into a defensive formation around Athena-One, their blades at the read, flinching at the floodlights in the area. The team swayed slightly, dizzy and disoriented; there were voices screaming at them to stand down and sheathe their weapons lest they be considered hostile and shot on sight. Humans. They were humans but, Christ, their accents were strange and they were garbed in the weirdest looking armour that Athena had ever seen. One thing was for certain, this wasn't the Arc military or any kind of Order assassin; their weapons suggested that these humans still used metal and a strange manipulation of chemical reactions to fire the projectile weapons. Rebels then? No, even though they used chemical weapons their armour suggested otherwise and they seemed _too _well-prepared for an event like this. Athena-One counted at least twenty projectile weapons pointed at them before he gave up, gripping his dwarf blade tightly as Athena-Four asked hoarsely, "Sir, what do you suggested we do?"

Athena-One's hidden face was set into a grim smile while he remarked quietly enough for his men to hear, "We do what we do best, Four; we fight." Athena Team proceeded to brace themselves, ready to spring in opposite directions in the fray when Athena-One roared, "Stand down, all of you!" Thoroughly confused, Athena Team looked back at their leader who had an air of bewilderment around him; luckily before Athena could get back into position for another attack, the strangely armoured men put up their weapons and made way for six heavily armoured humans. Athenas-Two and -Five stepped back to let Athena-One step forward defiantly as he sheathed his blade - which signaled to the others to do the same - and approached the headman, both meeting eye-to-eye as closely as they could through faceplate and helmet. Athena watched slowly as the other man took off his helmet which caused Athena to take a few steps back in surprise: dark hair, the bluest eyes to exist, and overall the face of a leader, the man looked exactly like Athena-One. They were quiet for a moment as they eyed the man warily but when no action was taken, Athena-One reached up for his own faceplate; this caused a wave of uneasiness to pass through the team. On most planets and ships, it was a sign of common courtesy for two leading soldiers removed their headgear, something that Athena could rarely do since many atmospheres and artificial oxygen were too heavy for their lungs and caused them to crumple like paper.

Athena-One, however, didn't even hesitate as he pulled down his plated hood and removed the polarised faceplate slowly, taking in a hesitant breath, ready for the constricted feeling of failing lungs and cool grip of death-

-only to receive a lungful of clean air.

Athena-Two was read to leap to his leader's aid but was surprised when One addressed the other in a defiant voice, "Athena Leader of the Order squad ATHENA. I presume you're NOBLE Leader?" As obvious as it was, especially when the Red Sea told them who to look for, Athena-One couldn't resist asking.

There was no emotion in Noble Leader's chilling blue eyes as they swept over Athena nor his voice as he replied, "I am." He looked back at Athena-One. "That was quite an entrance, Athena."

"And its explainable events..." Athena-One searched for the right word momentarily, "...classified to many." Luckily, the man took the hint, suggesting,

"We've a debriefing room not too far from the area. Follow me." The fact that the man needed little convincing to allow Athena to even leave the hanger surprised them slightly but they took advantage of it nonetheless as they fell into step behind the armoured soldiers.

"Sir?" Athena-Two asked hesitantly, reaching for his faceplate.

"It's safe," Athena-One answered as the strange soldiers parted a pathway for the two teams, hearing the clicks and hisses of five other faceplates being removed, exiting through a rather bulky door and down the hall a ways before turning off into a rather secluded area.

The room they entered was little more than a grey box with a dull metal table and holotank for vids and files; it was in complete contrast to the previously bright desert planet Athena was on minutes earlier.

"The captain's arriving but for now: _talk_," Noble leader ordered, receiving a rather irritated look from Athena-One.

"We have vids of our previous mission," Athena-Two offered. "Athena-Four has the most data collected; it was a simple reconnaissance mission so nothing will be...classified." It was clear that he was uncomfortable with such a word and such people but the assassin managed through it anyway. Wordlessly, Athena-Four took the vid chip from his faceplate, handing it to a woman who looked a lot like Athena-Two - a female version in the least - just as the doors slid open to reveal a shorter, elder man dressed in a clean-cut military suit decorated with many military ribbons that looked like they belonged to someone on the Arc. Noble Team saluted the man while Athena simply watched him closely, clearly unsure as to what to do with him.

"Captain Keyes," Noble Leader greeted calmly.

"At ease, Noble," the man ordered as he stepped fully into the room, eyeing each Athena member up and down carefully. "ONI?"

"We aren't sure yet, sir; they have a vid of a mission they were on before..._arriving_ here. We're about to view it," Noble Leader replied as the woman put the vid chip in the holotank, calling up a holoscreen where Athena-Four's trek into the Hoarder camp played immediately. They watched in a tense silence until the Red Sea came into view with their miniature interrogation where the woman had begun recording the information onto a data pad and it was at the end did she retrieve the chip and hand it back to Athena-Four. During the swap, Keyes began analysing the vid.

"One hell of a reconnaissance mission, Athena," was his initial remark. "I would believe you but with our current priorities, I can't safely say that this isn't forged even if we do have a helluva lot of eye witnesses to your dynamic entrance; we can have an A.I. scan this vid and then we can see what we can do with you then. This means that we need to have you remain in this area, I don't care what area you belong to, that's an _order_; we don't need our men more jumpy than they are now, understood?" Athena Team hesitated, looking at each other momentarily to see if they were in mutual agreement before facing Keyes again and nodding with a firm, "Yes, sir" in place.

"Glad we can reach a quick understanding." Keyes nodded as he made an about-face to exit the room, murmuring to Carter on his way out, "Keep them under your watch, Noble, got it?"

"Sir," Carter replied with a nod, "we'll make sure nothing happens." Keyes nodded once more before exiting the room, missing Athena-One's narrowed, curious look after him.

* * *

**_UNSC Halycon-frigate Pillar of Autumn_**

**_September 1st, 2552, 0145 hours_**

**_Noble Team_**

**_Current status: ACTIVE_ **

Emile was thoroughly unsure about this "Athena Team" that had literally appeared out of nowhere; they all looked exactly like Noble Team and could only be assumed as clones and therefore, most likely something from ONI. The only reason why they didn't claim it out loud was because they acted the exact opposite of them, not as if they were simply told to be that what but as if they were their own person. Emile had kept a close eye on his own "twin", Athena-Four they had called him, who was busy sharpening what looked like a runic talwar on a whetstone; the Spartan-III had tried to make eye contact with the other but Four always seemed to manage to busy himself with something: polish his faceplate, sharpen one of his seemingly hundreds of swords, make small talk with some the other Athenas...it seemed as if there were hundreds of activities for the man.

So Emile settled for staring at the man.

He had lost track of time after an hour or so but his strategy worked, Four finally looked up from his current sword, a kris, and asked in an ever-so-quiet voice, "What?"

"Oh nothing...just thought I found my brother," Emile stated dryly which made Four narrow his eyes as if daring the violent Spartan to continue. "Never thought I would have a twin unless that's some really good cloning going on." Four merely rolled his eyes before looking down at the kris and continuing his work, commenting,

"If you've nothing else better than to make dead jokes, I suggest you throw yourself out of an airlock to save us the embarrassing silences that follow." Oh, so he talked fancy, did he now? This guy was gonna be a lot of fun to mess with.

"'Embarrassing'? For you or for me?"

"A fifty-fifty chance...it all depends on whether you leave it open-ended or can't deliver the punchline correctly." Emile began rethinking that cloning idea Noble mutually shared. Scowling, the Spartan opened his mouth to retort when the _Autumn _gave a violent shake shortly followed by the alarms sounding off. Noble was up and alert instantly, helmets on and weapons at the ready as Athena sealed their faceplates and grabbed their swords, ready but wary of the alarms as if they had never heard it before.

_"Attention, all combat personnel: Please report to your action stations. Noble Team: report to Cryo 2 immediately." _The orders had come from the A.I. Noble rescued, Cortana was it?

Noble Team made their way out of the room, followed by Athena until Carter stopped and stated firmly, "Your orders were to remain in this room and those orders still stand." Athena-One seemed to have glowered at him underneath the faceplate as he remarked,

"See how long that'll last without you around. We break orders sooner or later and whatever the hell is happening isn't good for you." Carter returned the glare with one of his own and if it weren't for Kat and Athena-Two, the two would've been at it for a long time.

"We're going anyways," was the final decision that the pair said simultaneously as they pulled their respective commanders back to their squads.

With a last glare, Carter announced, "We head for Cryo 2." And they set off at a light jog, passing by Marines and personnel alike, Cortana or a shudder occasionally rupturing through the ship. It wasn't until they were in the heart of the ship that they began running into the Covenant; at first, it was just a simple squad of Grunts here and there, picked off by Isaiah or Emile but the closer they got to the Cryo bay, the bigger the squads got and the more casualties they saw. The first Athena to have engaged with the Covenant was the tallest one of the team: he had vaulted over Athena's heads and decapitated a Field Marshall Elite that Isaiah had turned to parry. The blood splattered all over his suit but he simple swept the dark purple blood off his chrome sword before stepping back with his team.

It made Noble wonder just what material the blades were made of that could cut through shields and armour with a clean swipe.

They didn't linger long and, after ushering some tech personnel in the direction of the lifeboats, began nearing the Cryo bay when they came upon a squad of Zealots that were clearly ready for them; instantly, four glowing plasma grenades hurdled towards them causing them to dive separate ways, Emile tackling Athena-Six along the way followed by Isaiah and Four.

"Shit!" Emile felt some of the plasma wash over him as the four plasma balls of terror blew up, giving the Zealots an advantage to advance upon the stunned Spartans and strangers.

_"Warning: blast doors closing." _Emile spared a glance backwards, groaning inwardly when he realised he and Isaiah weren't going to make it in time; the volley of grenades had separated the two teams, leaving one half to deal with the Zealots.

"Go ahead to the Cryo bay, you two, and keep those two Athenas close. The rest of us'll evac the rest of the personnel and help maintain defences; we can meet up with you at some lifeboats," Carter ordered as the four men made quick work of the strike team. "Understood?"

"Yessir," the two Spartans replied crisply as the two Athenas received orders from their own leader before replying with a sharp "Under your command, sir!" and then faced the Spartans, seemingly awaiting orders as the rest of Noble and Athena disappeared.

"We head down this corridor," Isaiah said, taking point to continue the mission and break the strange silence that fell over them.

"Can't see why we couldn't meet up at the bridge," Emile muttered as he got the rear position, keeping an eye out for Zealots.

* * *

_A/n: Do not worry, you will be getting some action soon although I will be skipping the Master Chief's awakening since nothing will be new there; it will begin immediately with Emile, Isaiah, Six, and Four escorting him to the bridge. Also, I separated them on purpose because twelve people seemed a bit too big and it would be easier to keep track of them through their own travels. There will be many changes throughout the campaign so be warned._

_That being said, I hope for some reviews and critiques to help me improve upon this story._

_Also, I will be starting a new fanfiction for the sake of writing in case I ever get the horrid disease called writer's block. It will be centred around the Rookie and very AU to the campaign but contained within the universe and use more the Forerunner folklore as well as some of my own for the sake of my story being a bit more original than the generics._

_Review please!_

_May your mind be sharp and your tongue sharper,_

_Lady Razor_


End file.
